|
|
Wine Recommendation
Chappellet Winery
2003 Chenin Blanc "Dry"(Napa Valley)
What makes a wine “classic”? It has to have a pedigree, both varietally in its region and site-specifically in a great vineyard. The grape variety has to have some resonance all on its own, and the winemaking has to respect all the history without giving into it and ignoring how, what, and why people drink today. Finally, it has to have a personality that transcends wine, the way a great painting transcends visual art or a great film transcends ordinary movies.
The Chenin Blanc grape ruled California whites a couple of generations ago, before getting shoved aside by Chardonnay with its paint-by-numbers viticulture and shout-out-loud flavor profile. This particular version comes from Napa Valley hillside vines planted in that era and maintained ever since by the Chappellet family (alas, the vines are being replaced due to disease). The wine is golden in color and richly floral in the aromas, and in your mouth it makes an instant impression: palate weight, sensual texture, elegant stonefruit and citrus flavors – it all makes you want to sip and sip and sip. The wine will be reborn a few vintages from now, so get this final expression of its apotheosis while you can. Highly recommended.
Reviewed September 15, 2006 by Thom Elkjer.
Other reviewed wines from Chappellet Winery
The Wine
Winery: Chappellet Winery |
The Reviewer
Thom Elkjer
Thom Elkjer has been reviewing wines professionally for more than ten years. He has contributed to Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, served as Wine Editor for Wine Country Living and is Wine Editor for WineCountry.Com. He also writes for newspapers and magazines in the U.S. and Europe and judges at major international wine competitions. |